1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to information recording and erasing apparatuses, and more specifically, to an information recording and erasing apparatus configured to record and erase information on or from a thermo-sensitive recording medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, in the distribution business or manufacturing processes in companies, for example, an IC (Integrated Circuit) tag or an RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tag (RF tag) has been attached to a product to realize a technique whereby management is performed or identification of the product is automatically made. Here, the IC tag or the RF tag can read and write information from and to the outside by radio transmission.
In addition, with respect to the RF tag, since UHF band radio waves have been able to be used for the RFID transmissions since April 2005, it is expected to use the RFID in not only manufacturing in the company or distribution but also the entirety of business such as retail business.
For storing management or in distribution processes of the products, it is necessary for operators to visually check information of the products. Accordingly, these tags are used as an IC card or an RF card unified with a card main body where information recorded in the tag can also be visibly printed.
If the IC card or the RF card is mechanically damaged, information stored in the card may be lost. Therefore, it is necessary to limit card flexibility by improving rigidity of the card main body. Because of this, in a case where the information is rewritten by using a thermal printer, as discussed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application Publication No. 2002-234201 or Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application Publication No. 2005-56047, the card main body moves in a single direction for an erasing head and a recording head arranged in a straight line without the card main body curving so that information is erased in an upper step and information is recorded in an lower step.
However, in the method discussed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application Publication No. 2002-234201, the erasing unit and the recording unit are arranged in a moving direction of the card. Therefore, a supply opening for supplying the card to the apparatus and a discharge opening for discharging the card are position at opposite sides from each other. Accordingly, it is necessary to secure operations spaces at both the supply opening and the discharge opening. Furthermore, operations for the apparatus are complicated.
In addition, in the method discussed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application Publication No. 2005-56047, an insertion opening and a discharge opening for the card are made common. Therefore, although full front operations can be realized, it is difficult to simultaneously implement the erasing process and the recording process for plural cards. Hence, it takes a long time for continuously rewriting the information to the card.